A new hostel that opened in Kyiv on Sept. 20 could be advertised as the closest to the metro in Ukraine’s capital — in two senses.
Kyiv Metro Hostel is just a seven-minute walk from Taras Shevchenko metro station — but it also uses authentic Ukrainian metro train cars for rooms.
The owner of the hostel had bought two trains from the Kyiv Metro service at an auction for Hr 546,000 ($20,022) each in 2017 and refurbished them into stylish rooms for travelers.
“Usually they’re sold for scrap metal, but I’m sure our project will give these train cars a second life to the delight of the guests of Ukraine’s capital,” the owner, Michael Galperin, told the media when he bought the cars through the Prozorro public e-procurement system.
Israeli architecture studio Oren M.A.Z Architects designed the hostel, putting the two cars side by side with a small corridor in between – just as if they were on two separate train tracks. Visitors enter the hostel through a roofed lobby that resembles a platform.
The cars, spray-painted with graffiti, are visible from outside. But, inside, they have been completely remodeled. Each room has two sets of bunk beds, wardrobes, lockers and a bathroom. Showers and a shared kitchen are located outside the rooms.
It took more than two years to build the hostel. Galperin says that the most challenging piece of work was to soundproof and insulate the train cars.
“The walls are thin metal. We used different materials, layer by layer, so now the walls of the hostel are like a layered cake,” Galperin says.
Metro Hostel has eight four-bed rooms and can house up to 32 visitors. Each room is designed as one of seven metro stations with distinct styles around the world: like Grand Central in New York, People’s Square in Shanghai or Kyiv’s Khreshchatyk.
Metro Hostel is located in the Podil district, one of Kyiv’s oldest industrial zones, which adds to the metro experience. The hostel is housed on the territory of Galperin’s Amarant Hotel at 71D Kostiantynivska St.
Rates at the hostel are currently Hr 450 ($18.5) a night for a bunk bed on Booking.com.
